The number of farmers receiving benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKisan) has suddenly dropped by nearly two crore in the past four months, prompting a parliamentarian to speculate if the scheme would be discontinued.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the government has furnished data that show that the number of beneficiaries during the four months ending July was 10.45 crore, while it had come down to 8.42 crore during the four months ending November. The government’s spending on PMKisan dropped from Rs 22,552 crore to Rs 17,444 crore.

The Centre started the PM Kisan scheme in the run-up to the 2019 general election, providing Rs 2,000 to each beneficiary farmer family. All landholding farmers’ families are eligible to get the benefit. However, farmers holding constitutional posts, serving as government employees or retired, and pensioners and income-tax payers are not eligible.

When the scheme was started, 3.16 crore families were made beneficiaries under the first cycle from December 2018 to March 2019. In every cycle, the number increased except for the last one.

Congress leader Randeep Surjewala quoted the agriculture census of 2015-16 to say there are nearly 14.5 crore farmer families in the country. He wanted to know the reason behind the exclusion of six crore families and the sudden drop in the number of beneficiaries.

“Is this scheme going to be wound up? Why six crore farmers are excluded?” he asked.

Minister of state for agriculture and farmers’ welfare Kailash Choudhary attributed the reduction to eligibility criteria.

“Some farmers are paying income tax, some are holding high office. So there is a reduction. But still the portal is open for inclusion,” Choudhary said.

The minister did not elaborate how ineligible farmers could be included. The answer failed to satisfy Surjewala who expressed surprise about six crore farmers falling in the ineligible category.

In a separate question, Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda wanted to know the progress on a law to give legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) as demanded by the farmers’ unions. The government set up a committee in July to suggest more effective and transparent MSP.

“The farmers’ unions have rejected the committee on the ground that most of the members had supported the three farm laws brought by the government and had opposed the farmers’ agitation. The subjects for study by the committee also included crop diversification and natural farming, which were not the demand of the farmers. The chairman of the committee was the secretary of the agriculture ministry when the three farm bills were prepared. I want to know the progress on legal guarantee of MSP,” Hooda said.

Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Congress was doing fake politics on the issue of farmers.

“Farmers had to suffer because of fake politics by the Congress party. The Congress party had proposed the laws which we brought. But it took the side of the protesters…. The committee on MSP has been set up. There are representatives of farmers’ unions on the panel. It is wrong to defame the farmer union leaders,” Tomar said.

Homeless people gathered in a field in New Delhi on Friday evening. The Delhi government plans to remove beggars from near the Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) to night shelters ahead of meetings of the G20, whose presidency India took over on December 1.

“CM has directed that beggars around Hanuman Mandir near ISBT should be removed and relocated in the night shelters of the DUSIB (Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board). This exercise is necessitated keeping in view the meetings of the G20 summit,” an order issued by the DUSIB CEO, K. Mahesh, said. (PTI picture)